While learning about PowerShell’s ability to extract and set values in the registry I find it useful to have regedit running in parallel. My scenario: to check the operating system’s build number. Please amend the value of $RegKey for the item that you are interested in.

SolarWinds’ Network Performance Monitor will help you discover what’s happening on your network. This utility will also guide you through troubleshooting; the dashboard will indicate whether the root cause is a broken link, faulty equipment or resource overload.

What I like best is the way NPM suggests solutions to network problems. Its also has the ability to monitor the health of individual VMware virtual machines. If you are interested in troubleshooting, and creating network maps, then I recommend that you try NPM now.

As a beginner, people will tell you that accessing the registry with PowerShell is as easy as accessing the file system. Guy says that doing useful work means learning knack. Let start with PowerShell’s PSDrive provider, which opens the door to the registry. Thus you can type:

CD HKLM:\ (Just as easy as when you type: cd C:\)

I reminder that HKLM is an abbreviation of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, which is well-known to PowerShell. There is also the users section of the registry at HKCU.

To go back one step, you can see the connections between PowerShell, the registry and the file system by typing plain: Get-PSDrive

Guy Recommends: SolarWinds Engineer’s Toolset v10

This Engineer’s Toolset v10 provides a comprehensive console of 50 utilities for troubleshooting computer problems. Guy says it helps me monitor what’s occurring on the network, and each tool teaches me more about how the underlying system operates.

There are so many good gadgets; it’s like having free rein of a sweetshop. Thankfully the utilities are displayed logically: monitoring, network discovery, diagnostic, and Cisco tools. Try the SolarWinds Engineer’s Toolset now!